The treatment and/or prevention of breast cancer typically includes surgery to remove an area of tissue believed or proven to be cancerous or at high risk for developing cancer over time. Various surgical procedures are used to remove tissue of this nature, but in general, at least a section of the breast is removed to prevent further growth of abnormal tissue. Such surgical procedures include removal of a portion of the breast (partial mastectomy), or if needed, the entire breast is removed (mastectomy). Surgery is often followed by additional treatments to prevent recurrence of the cancer, and these treatments may include radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy. Soon after surgery is performed, bodily fluids known as seroma fluid usually fill the surgical cavity. This fluid contains varying amounts of bloody and proteinaceous materials, cells that help the body during the healing process, as well as anti-inflammatory biological elements. Seroma fluid almost immediately fills the surgical cavity and may temporarily appear to restore the shape of the breast. However over time, the body absorbs the seroma fluid, resulting in the cavity collapsing on itself to varying degrees. In many cases, scar tissue develops and can cause adherence of the margins or walls of the cavity as a natural part of the healing process. This process can result in undesirable deformities of the breast, ranging from dimpling of the overlying skin to large divots and concavities that are unsightly and painful. In addition, radiation of the area compounds these effects and makes correction of these painful abnormalities very challenging to address. When a mastectomy is performed, inadequate amounts of skin and tissue may remain to effectively reconstruct the breast to an acceptable aesthetic appearance.
Recent advances in breast cancer treatment combine the philosophy and/or principles of aesthetic and reconstructive surgery (plastic surgery) with the principles and techniques of surgical oncology in an attempt to restore the form and/or function of the breast at the time of (or after) removal of abnormal tissue. This relatively new field of surgery, referred to as oncoplastic surgery, generally involves removing cancerous tissue and then manipulating and utilizing various body tissues or rearranging the adjacent remaining tissue to help correct any defects or gaps that were created by the surgery. In this manner adjacent tissues are used to fill the voids left in surgery, which can decrease seroma formation and improve the ultimate outcome, particularly in regards to shape and contour of the breast. For example, tissue flaps may be created to provide easier manipulation, approximation, rotation and closure of tissues in and around the surgical wound. There may be situations, however, when insufficient tissue is present to create these flaps in the size needed, or to create a flap at all resulting in a smaller or malformed (deformed) breast after surgery. In other instances, the flap may be created in such a way that its blood supply is compromised, ultimately causing the flap and surrounding tissues to die, leading to fat necrosis and other undesirable patient outcomes. Accordingly, it would be desirable, for example, to have a device and/or technique to employ in circumstances where wound tension and sparsity of tissue may otherwise cause a long-standing deformity such as following removal of a portion of the breast. An important goal of the devices and approaches described herein is to improve surgical techniques for breast surgery.